In level one (Dam), the Sniper Rifle enables gamers to pick off Russian guards from distant towers with its high-powered telescope while in level 10 (Statue), a high-powered, automatic shotgun is the clear choice. Gamers will quickly learn that weapons and ammo can be gleaned from dead enemies, and that some weapons are clearly better in certain situations. Goldeneye 007 is built around 18 varying levels that must be played through in linear fashion in the easy mode, which then open up the possibility of playing the game in medium to hard difficult levels, each level afterward fully chooseable in any order. The gameplay deftly evolves the first-person perspective action genre, enabling gamers to immerse themselves in spy-style tactics and covert operations, and forcing gamers to think before they rush in to blow the heck out of everything in sight.
After seriously playing the game for weeks, N64.com can sincerely say that Goldeneye 007 is a intelligently conceived and brilliantly executed diamond of a game, building its spy-style adventure smartly on the foundation of the first-person genre, and unleashing the full power of Nintendo's four-player capabilities. In typical Nintendo fashion, Nintendo surprised nearly everyone when the game was announced to be a four-player game that was also Rumble Pak compatible. Just prior to the June Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the game suffered at least two unofficial postponements, and no word was heard as to why. With the release of Blast Corps, a game that displayed Rare's newfound sense of innovation and risk, many gamers and critics were unclear as to how the British-based company would approach the two-year old movie-licensed title, Goldeneye 007.